That was the topic of Dylan Klebold's English essay, written about two months before he and friend Eric Harris, clad in their own black trench coats, killed their classmates.

The story, released Tuesday among 11,000 pages of Columbine investigative files, for the first time shows Klebold's dark side in his own words.

Written in February 1999, the story foreshadowed the duo's attack on the school, and disturbed Klebold's creative writing teacher so much she contacted his parents.

They didn't appear to care, according to the teacher, Judith Kelly.

"It's just a story," Dylan Klebold told her.

But it wasn't.

In the story, a narrator described how the unnamed man wore a metal-studded black overcoat, widebrimmed hat, shiny black boots, black gloves and was "ready for a small war."

He lay in wait for his victims outside a busy bar, Klebold wrote.

In their April 20, 1999, attack on Columbine High School, both Harris and Klebold wore black trench coats to hide the weapons they carried.

They, too, came prepared for a small war, carrying a duffel bag holding guns and explosives. The explosions were meant to lure police officers to the scene, he wrote.

Investigators found that Harris and Klebold had deposited duffel bags and backpacks holding pipe bombs. A bomb left outside the school and intended as a diversion also did not explode.

Klebold described the unnamed man in black in his story as being 6-foot-4, about Klebold's own height.

Harris and Klebold considered themselves outcasts, and investigators who analyzed their writings concluded they plotted against jocks, girls who had rejected them and anybody they thought did not accept them.

Klebold's murderous narration alludes to killing those jocks, including one passage about a victim who is also a football player.

Klebold wrote that the drops of blood from the first of the nine victims were reflected in the light of a street lamp. The man stabbed his last victim, burying his hand 2 inches into the victim's skull.

Klebold ended the story by describing the man as he walked away.

"I not only saw in his face, but also felt emanating from him power, complacence, closure, and godliness," he wrote. "The man smiled, and in that instant, through no endeavor of my own, I understood his actions."

Kelly, Klebold's teacher, told investigators she had a lengthy talk with Klebold's parents, but they did not seem worried about the essay.

According to the summary of her interview with police, Kelly said the Klebolds made a comment about "trying to understand kids today." The 1 1/2-page story, with Kelly's comments of "great details" and "quite an ending" written in the margins and at the bottom, was later found in Klebold's BMW.

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THE REPORT
Copies of the 11,000 pages of investigative materials are available at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds for public inspection.

Three sets of the materials are available in Auditorium 1 at the fairgrounds, 15200 W. Sixth Ave., from 9 a.m. to noon today and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 27 through Dec. 1. Additional reading dates also may be scheduled, county officials said.

Of 12 copies available for sale Tuesday morning, eight were bought by media, including national outlets such as Newsweek and ABC News. Some members of the public, including victims' families, came to read the documents Tuesday.

The county also will place nine copies in the county's libraries for public review.

The documents also can be ordered by mail for $602 (5 cents per page for copying) plus postage. Orders can be sent to the Jefferson County Public Information Office, 100 Jefferson County Parkway, Suite 5530, Golden, CO 80419.

The families of slain students Daniel Rohrbough and Kelly Fleming filed Public Records Act lawsuits against the county in April seeking release of the documents and other investigative materials.